The 'Political' english language.

George Orwell wrote an essay about the English language and how contemporary English language has just become manipulative and very 'political.' Orwell said that political English was simply created to "make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." Basically, to manipulate voters into thinking that the politicians were whiter than white and being truthful even if they were the most immoral of people. But he argued that this manipulative creation had spread to those that didn't even need to decorate lies, the general population. I think this is true 100%, journalism has taught me that school teacher English as it has been called by our lecturers, is designed to make you decorate the basics. Fill out a sentence. Rather than just get to the point. The point of a sentence is to provide information to your reader, audience, whatever. But how can you do this when half of your readers don't know what you are talking about! By using 'political English' a writer can distract himself from the purpose of writing in the first place, constantly trying to make what he is saying sound interesting, controversial or intelligent and drown the information in a sea of over complicated, alienating bullshit.

Orwell in his essay "Politics and the English Language", lays out six rules to avoid political English language:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
   

Even Orwell said that these bad writing habits can be easily picked up by anyone. He said that he had even committed the same bad habits that his essay was against! So why is it so easy to pick up these bad habits. In a society where most jobs, schools and even people require us to be intelligent it is easy for us to cover our basic/sloppy ideas and transform them into something brilliant by decorating the idea with elaborate language. I am also guilty of doing this!
I think developing these bad habits goes way back to the schoolroom. Teachers were always pushing you to use descriptive language and forcing you away from the basic words, "what is wrong with the word but", what's wrong with umbrella words? Why can we not just say what we think. That is the purpose of a word, to show exactly what you mean. Why should I point at a wall and go "that solid object formed of a red stone that prevents access" when I can just say, "that wall that stops me getting in". Teachers were always handing me back essays with 'describe this in more detail', why? She's sad. That's how she feels now please get stuffed! I don't want to pick up a paper and read a pompous article about a load of facts. I want the facts and that is what Orwell is saying. Lets not have unnecessary words that take away the feeling of the article/story just so that a writer can dress it up. Lets leave that to the politicians!